Table of contents

Intro

Hey guys, Phinnegan again.

With the flip flopping between Standard and Expanded, it is easy to miss which decks are the best choices and which should be avoided. New sets coming out every three months makes it even harder to keep track of.

But never fear, Phinn is here to explain what has changed in Expanded since our last set of Regionals. This piece will cover my top choices in Expanded at the moment. While Yveltal decks dominated before, there is potential for many different decks to gain popularity now. I will cover (with deck lists) the seven decks that I am considering for Regionals.

Last Regionals, Yveltal/Darkness decks were winning everything. It seemed like everyone was joining the bandwagon. The deck had the potential to beat anything and could be played several different ways. Because of its popularity, many new variants came about. The two that stood out the most to me are the version with Silent Lab/Reverse Valley/Parallel City, and the speed Max Elixir variant. These both did not play Hypnotoxic Laser, choosing to play alternative damage modifiers.These variants show how Hypnotoxic Laser is not as overpowered as it previously was. Lasers do nothing to Primal Groudon, and are unplayable against Seismitoad or Trevenant. On top of that, Hypnotoxic Lasers aren't great against Eels and are for the most part unneeded against Vespiquen. For me, the Max Elixir version isn't as strong, leading me to focus on the other variant.

The big reason for me avoiding the Max Elixir version is because it has a tougher time in the mirror. Their damage modifiers are through energy acceleration, rather than lasers or a stadium. With lasers, less energy has to be attached and more damage is done. Not having to attach as many energy is great for mirror because it means that your opponent has to work harder to get the needed energy to one-shot with Evil ball. Because of this, I am more in favor of the Parallel City/Silent Lab version that Israel Sosa popularized.

Energy (11)

Matchups

With this list, I feel very comfortable in many matchups. There are techs for almost everything. With this list I tried to give myself an option for every matchup.

Yveltal mirror

In the mirror, I have a second Gallade and a Ghetsis to give me an edge. Ghetsis is nice, because when going first it can put the opposing Yveltal player down to two or three cards, making it almost impossible for them to pull of Maxie's. It also has the potential to cause them to dead-draw. Yveltal/Archeops plays a very high amount of items and very few Supporters. With only about three to five draw Supporters, it is easy to make them dead-draw with Ghetsis.

A second Gallade is great, because once the first one comes into play, it is very easy to get another one set up. This is because Premonition allows you to put exactly what you need on top of your deck to get Maxie's again! Any mirror match where you can pull off Maxie's/Gallade twice will most likely be a set you win.Seismitoad variants

Seismitoad, for the first time in a while, is on the decline. However, some do still play it, meaning it is important to be prepared.

I do see Seismitoad variants as a little more difficult, but still winnable. I very much would like to put in a second or even a third XY Yveltal. The one Parallel City could be cut for it, but seems more helpful to me at the moment. Parallel City will help in this matchup because it both limits Seismitoad's damage output and gets rid of any easy prizes on the bench. Against Seismitoad/Bats, getting rid of these low HP Pokémon-EX is crucial. Imagine your opponent puts 60 damage on your benched Jirachi-EX. Just before they knock it out, you can push it off of your bench to completely counter all of that bench damage.

To me, most games against Toad variants come down to the first two turns. If Yveltal gets out Gallade, they're probably winning. If Seismitoad can Ghetsis turn one, toad will probably win. Unfortunately, these games are rolling the dice and hoping for the best in most cases.

Trevenant

Again, this matchup comes down to the first couple turns. If Trevenant goes first, it can easily get the turn 1 Trevenant, causing the Yveltal player to dead draw. On the other hand, the Yveltal player can go first and get set up before the Item lock can be taken advantage of.

This could be another matchup where Ghetsis is helpful. When going first, if getting Maxie's is not an option, then go for Ghetsis.

Eels

Archeops is the obvious best way to go about playing this matchup. If you cannot get turn one Archeops, then do everything you can to make it happen on your next turn. Archeops will force your opponent to have Hex Maniac to evolve. This also means they will have to get it into their discard pile for easier accessibility. This is where the one copy of Seismitoad comes in. Once they have that Hex discarded, you can cut off their access to it with Quacking Punch. Although it may not do much damage, it gives you the ability to take you time and set up, while they can do essentially nothing.

If you can pull of that combo, you're going to win consistently.

Groudon

Beating Groudon comes down to using your Fright Night Yveltal well. Many Groudon lists are playing Mr. Mime to combat this, however, Mr. Mime is not very high in HP and can easily be knocked out. Silent Lab will also help to combat Mr. Mime at least temporarily.

Games where you can set up behind an attacking Yveltal (Fright Night) will go well. I encourage using non-EX Pokémon as much as possible and avoid using Shaymin-EX. If you do use Shaymin, there is always the option to bump it with Parallel City.

Vespiquen

Vespiquen has been on the decline lately as well, so I wouldn't worry too much about this matchup. The strategy against Vespiquen is similar to the one for facing Eels. Go for Archeops as fast as possible and then try to Quacking Punch to stop them from using VS Seeker for Hex.

Some lists do play Wobbuffet. When playing against these lists, things can be a little tougher. You can use your Fright Night Yveltal in this match up to two shot Wobbuffet while hitting Shaymin-EX on the bench. This will allot you three prizes in two turns, which should be enough to swing things in your favor.

On a side note, Silent Lab can also prevent Wobbuffet from going through Archeops. SO, when you do see Wobbuffet hit the field, it is time to drop the Lab.

Overview

This deck is one of my top options at the moment. The list has to potential to beat anything. There are some iffy matchups, like: Trevenant, Groudon, and Seismitoad variants.

I think if there is a way to give this deck a better chance against Item lock decks, while still maintaining other good matchups, then deck is the way to go.

Next up is one of my favorite decks. I still consider this deck to be the most skill intensive deck in Expanded, and enjoy playing it more than any other top tier deck.

Energy (7)

If this list looks familiar, that's because it is only one card different from the list that Kian Amini won a Regionals with, earlier this season. The only change, is the 4th electric cut, in favor of a third Silent Lab.

I don't want to go too in depth about this deck because I have covered it so many times in the past. Still, I do want to explain why I do not play some of the newer cards that many people are putting in their lists.

List Choices

I decided that Fighting Fury Belt was not as good as it seems. Against Yveltal, the extra HP almost never matters. In the mirror, the Belt can be Xerosic'd off to give prizes on your opponent's turn. Against Eels, FFB might seem strong because it makes it harder for Seismitoad to be two-shotted. But it is important to remember that the low damage makes it harder to Knock Out Raikou.

In my testing, I have never been happy about playing Fighting Fury Belt. It seems like in most cases when I use it, I simply wish it was a Muscle Band instead.

Jolteon-EX seems like it would fit well in this deck because the list already has electric energy. I actually agree that the addition would be nice, however I see nothing that could be cut aside from one of the Manectric. I am not willing to cut Manectric because the cut would be detrimental in the Groudon matchup. Jolteon does provide a far easier matchup, but I would rather take two 50/50 matchups, over one favorable matchup and one bad matchup.

Judge is a card that I did advocate for some time in this list. Recently I have changed my mind. Judge was causing me to dead draw too much of the time. I feel the card makes things more luck based because they give both you and your opponent a chance to dead draw. I decided to cut this card back out for the fourth N.

Overview

For anyone who has been using this deck for a long time, I think it is still a strong choice. For anyone who is not experienced, I would never advocate this deck. Make sure you have the proper testing before you take this deck to a tournament.

I have a hunch that this deck loses to Trevenant which is very concerning. Groudon and Eels are close matchups. Yveltal, in my experience has always been favorable. I think this deck is a solid choice but possibly not the best.

The next deck has always been something that I wanted to use in Expanded but never had the chance until now. Mega Manectric has had a tough time finding its place, but I think now it can finally shine.

Energy (10)

This deck intrigued me because of its excellent Yveltal and Seismitoad matchups. With Wobbuffet and Hex Maniac, Archeops is easy to counter. Gallade can't do much without a way to discard the Flash energy on Mega Manectric. With three Flash in the list, I have found that it is not difficult to get two flash on Mega Manectric, making it essentially immune to anything one-shotting it.

Seismitoad has always been a good matchup. With Manectric being very non-Item reliant, there is not a whole lot toad can do besides hoping the Manectric player dead draws. The Rough Seas puts it even further over the edge.

Trevenant is a positive matchup for the same reasons. Silent fear is completely nullified by Rough Seas, which means they will be forced to Tree Slam. After Rough Seas, Tree Slam only leaves 30 damage in play. No much set up is needed from Mega Manectric. I cannot see this matchup ever being difficult.

Eels is yet to be determined. I think the addition of a second Hex, and/or second Wobbuffet could be helpful. This could be a harder matchup but Jolteon-EX could end up completely changing that. On a side note, you can also power up Hoopa-EX and use its attack to one-shot benched Eels. A second Lysandre also could be useful in this match up. I have a hunch that Jolteon-EX will simply make it an auto-win.

Vespiquen and Night March are the two decks I am primarily afraid of. Night March can one-shot Mega Manectric with ease. Now that Articuno has been cut from the deck, taking two prizes on Joltik is no longer an option. With 120 HP, Mew-EX is just barely out of one-shot range. Against Vespiquen I expect things to go similarly. They one-shot quickly with a non-EX and win the prize trade.

Groudon is another hard matchup. Not sure how to take this deck down. I think the best strategy is to try to overrun turn after turn and then hit hard with Wobbuffet once Groudon comes up.

List explained

This deck was built with consistency in mind before anything else. I tested Mega Manectric for many formats with several lists, and the one thing that always seems to be a problem, is consistency. To combat this, I decided three Battle Compressor is a good idea. The Hoopa, and 4 Spirit Link also help to give this deck a turn 2 turbo bolt every game.

Town Map is a card that doesn't see a whole lot of play. The options for this list were either that Town Map or second Lysandre. I went with Town Map because it can help to stream using Lysandre. For example, you can Lysandre and Knock Out a Shaymin and then take VS Seeker off of the prizes and do it again on the next turn. Town Map has just been a strong card in Mega Manectric for me, historically speaking.

The one Super Rod is just to recover whatever attacker you need. Some games a second Jolteon-EX may be needed, Super Rod will get you there. Other times, a Mega Manectric may have been discarded and needs to be brought back, this is what I use it for most of the time. Occasionally, I will run low on energy in deck and have to Super Rod a couple of them back. Super Rod is nice for many reason. It could be cut, but should not, unless there is something absolutely needed instead.

I decided to go with Wobbuffet because of Archeops. Wobbuffet gives a second option, other than Hex Maniac for getting through Archeops. I think Wobbuffet could also be cut for something else, I was considering putting in a BKT Yveltal instead. The secondary energy type, and alternative attacker is sort of up to you!

This deck is made to tank damage and heal. For this reason, it is important to eliminate easy prizes for your opponent. This is why AZ is in the list. With AZ, you can pick up those Shaymin that needed to be played earlier. AZ can also be used as a draw card in certain situations, if used to pick up Shaymin-EX. I like AZ in this deck, I haven't taken it out in a long time. It gives an extra switching effect if your Float Stones are unusable too!

Overview

This deck is one of the best plays in a meta that has no Vespiquen or Night March. I don't expect to see much Vespiquen for a while due to Yveltal/Archeops' popularity. I think people will continue to use Night March even in a different format, because of its overwhelming success in Standard.

The other problem this deck faces is Groudon. I think Groudon is almost unwinnable without some sort of tech for it. I would highly suggest trying to find a way to counter Groudon.

If you are confident that these decks will not be popping up in your area, start testing Mega Manectric. But there is one other deck to consider for this sort of meta. Another deck that many people have forgotten about is Virizion Genesect.

Energy (13)

It has been a while since anyone won anything with Virizion/Genesect. I remember when it was the most dominant deck, now people don't even consider it when preparing for tournaments.

A list for this deck is a bit hard to make considering there are no current lists around that can be referenced. With this list, I try to do everything I can to beat top tier decks aside from Night March and Vespiquen.

As I said above, this deck works for a similar meta to Mega Manectric. Non-EX, one-shotting decks are the main problem. Anything with a lower damage output that relies on Pokémon-EX should be a good matchup. I have tried time and time again to counter these non-EX decks, but Virizion/Genesect can do very little to beat them without dedicating a huge part of the deck to the cause.

The list above does beat Groudon though, which is really important to me. The disadvantage that this list has, comes in when facing Yveltal. The Dedenne helps to make it an easier, but a quick Evil Ball can be hard to deal with. There is no missing a beat in this matchup. If you miss what you need for one turn, the Yveltal player is going to take over. So, while this deck does beat Groudon, the more popular Yveltal is harder than it would be for Mega Manectric.

About the list

This list includes no Max Elixir, which probably disgusts most people. In my opinion, it just isn't needed. Against Yveltal it could be useful, however, to make that work, some cards that make the Eels matchup good would have to be cut. Max Elixir has been very inconsistent in my testing. At a certain point I had 12 Grass energy in my list and I was still whiffing Max Elixir sometimes!

I am more a fan of Energy Switch. This is because the two energy on Virizion are simply stuck there unless you can Energy Switch them off. Energy Switch is far more reliable because there is no risk in whiffing the energy, the energy is already in front of you.

The two Hex Maniac and three Muscle Band are to deal with Eels. I may have run Fighting Fury Belt instead, had it not been for Eels. If Genesect has a Muscle Band on it, after playing Hex, Megalo Cannon will one-shot Raikou. If you can pull this off again on the next turn, you are most likely winning that game. On a side note, I considered playing 2 Deoxys-EX to make it possible to one-shot Raikou even when Hex isn't played. I ultimately decided against it, as you can see.

The two Tool Scrapper work well in this deck because Virizion/Genesect is so heavily hurt by Head Ringer. Even though Head Ringer doesn't see a lot of play, the card can really ruin Virizion/Genesect. Tool Scrapper will get rid of them, as well as discard opposing Fighting Fury Belts. For all of you who were confused by me saying I one-shot Raikou, 2 Tool Scrapper is how I make sure I can.

I have one AZ in the list simply as a switching card. Olympia is an option as well, but AZ gets the slot because it frees up a bench space. It also heals more damage than Olympia would. AZ can also be helpful when there is a Virizion-EX on the bench with no energy and lots of damage on it. This will happen quite often because the two energy that were attached, get energy switched off.

Lastly, the Town Map is to make sure you can quickly get access to G-Booster, when it is prized. Having G-Booster prized can be game-losing at times, meaning we should do what we can to avoid that ever happening. Town Map also helps to stream: Hex Maniac, Red Signals, and energy attachments. Town Map just keeps things consistent in the mid-game.

Overview

If you're looking at a meta that lacks Vespiquen and Night March, this is the play. Mega Manectric is nice for a similar meta, but I would rather take the tougher Yveltal matchup, than an auto-loss to Groudon. If you are sure there is no Groudon and high amount of Yveltal, then you could reconsider. For me, Virizion/Genesect is more my play style and is much more fun for me.

If you can find a way to give yourself even a 50/50 against Night March, then I cannot stress enough how good this option is. I personally cannot find a way to keep my techs for other matchups while improving the Night March matchup, but there may be a way. Test it and tell me how it works out!

The next option is a deck that I haven't given enough attention to in the past. I was dead set on this deck for a short period of time but then learned about some flaws that lead me to play Toad Bats, because I have more experience with it.

Energy (10)

Firstly I want to give credit to Sam Hough and Michael Perez because they created the list that is posted above. I had a couple cards that I wanted to change but for the most part that is their list.

This deck immediately is an option to me, simply because it beats Yveltal. With a decent damage output and a very tanky non-EX field, Eels can take down many of the top decks.

What does it beat?

Seismitoad is a great matchup simply because Raikou will do more damage. Against Seismitoad/Bats, the Rough Seas are going to be your best friend. The low amount of damage that Seismitoad does can be nullified by Rough Seas, with the promotion of a different Raikou. Your main attacker is not an-EX, which makes taking six prizes very hard for Toad Bats. Against the Giratina variant, they gain little from using it. They may be able to lock into play a Silent Lab, but Giratina can easily be two hit, which leaves the prize trade even.

Yveltal seems like it would be difficult due to Archeops, however the two Evosoda and Hex Maniac change that. These two techs will both increase consistency and help in other matchups. Gallade isn't much of a problem either because of the one Mewtwo-EX. Unless the Yveltal player can stream Hex Maniac over and over, Eels should beat it consistently.

The mirror is interesting and really just comes down to who can play Hex more of the time. If you're opponent doesn't play Hex in their list, they lose. The one Raikou-EX could be of use, since it can snipe Eelektrik on the bench.

Vespiquen is interesting because both sides can one-shot each other every turn. Those who can take more prizes on Shaymin-EX or other-EX Pokémon are going to be more successful. The high amount of damage needed to Knock Out a Raikou could be helpful here. Overall the matchup will be a little rough but winnable. Somewhere around a 55/45 in favor of Vespiquen.

Beating Night March comes with ease because of Jolteon-EX. Night March has essentially no answer to Jolteon. If you just make sure you don't bench any other Pokémon-EX, Jolteon can take six prizes effortlessly.

Groudon is weird. The one Escape Rope is to get Wobbuffet out of the active, and sometimes bring a Groudon active. Moving Wobbuffet will give you a chance to use Dynamotor at least temporarily. Sniping the Groudon on the bench with Raikou-EX is very helpful, if you can pull off one Volt Bolt, it shouldn't be too hard to knock that Groudon out once he comes active.

The nice thing about the Trevenant matchup is that the Trevenant player can never lock both abilities and Items. Because of this, Dynamotor can be used almost as much as needed. If Wobbuffet is ever active, Lysandre around it and then use Dynamotor. Silent Fear is somewhat ineffective because Rough Seas can heal all of the damage done. Benched Shaymin-EX can be a pain, but that one AZ is there for you. I would call this matchup favorable for sure, especially if you can win the Stadium war with Rough Seas.

Problems

The main difficulty with Eels is the fact that Jolteon-EX shuts the whole deck down! With no answer to Jolteon, one copy spells a loss most of the time. I really would like to find an attacker that either goes through this effect, or is an evolution. The Crash and Burn Eelektross is definitely an option.

The second problem I have is how heavily this deck relies on abilities. Hex chained turn after turn will result in a loss too much of the time. I'm not sure how to make this deck less reliant on abilities, maybe a higher count of DCE? Ghetsis is a great way to combat this problem, because it stops them from being able to VS Seeker for the Hex on their next turn. I love Ghetsis in this list and very much doubt it will ever be taken out.

The last problem is space. I find with all of these techs, I do not have enough room for consistency cards that are needed. I remember when I played Ray/Eels, I had 4 Level Ball, now I am forced to play one! I would feel far more comfortable with this deck if I had room for some more Level Balls. The Evosoda is taking up this space now, but is needed for Archeops.

Overview

If this deck is not super expected, it can ruin tons of top tier choices. If it is prepared for, almost anything can beat it with the right techs. Hex Maniac and Jolteon-EX are glaring problems. It seems like almost every deck in Expanded has a Hex Maniac now. Well timed Ghetsis use and a counter to Jolteon-EX could make this deck the best play.

Play this deck to give yourself a shot against anything. This deck really can take down anything top tier, but it needs to run well to do so. I actually really like this option at the moment.

Next up is a deck that I am not entirely fond of but is unmistakably one of the top contenders. The spooky tree:

Energy (8)

If this list looks familiar, that's because it is the list that won Florida Regionals. Aaron Tarbell piloted this rouge deck to first place, at least at the time it was rogue. I don't believe he was actually the creator of the list. I recall something about Kevin Kobayashi and few other guys collaborating to make it. The only problem I have with this list is the one Delinquent. I just don't see why this card is good. It could be just my ignorance, but I see no real strong reason to play it. Nonetheless, the rest of the list is great in my opinion and I wouldn't have changed more than one or two cards if I built it myself.

Trevenant can Item lock when going first. This ability alone makes it worth testing. With ability and Item lock, this deck is probably the most controlling deck there is at the moment. The HP Trevenant Break provides while hitting everything for thirty, and being a non-EX is huge. This Item lock turn one is enough to turn even the worst of matchups into a positive one. The great thing about Item lock is that it gives you a shot against anything. It makes it so you can sometimes pull off a win against a deck that should always beat you. Yveltal normally would slam Trevenant every time, but its high reliance on Items makes it so the Yveltal player has a chance of dead drawing right from the start.

Trevenant, more than any other deck is great at exploiting the fact that so many decks rely on Items and speed cards for their set up. In terms of its other matchups, this is what Trevenant does against everything else:

Against Seismitoad, most of their damage output is no longer usable. The Muscle Bands and Hypnotoxic Lasers cannot be played. Bats are harder to draw into because of the Item lock and the overall consistency is lowered significantly. Thirty damage spreading every turn is going to pick off Zubat if they don't evolve, and will Knock Out Shaymin if it isn't picked up. Trevenant Break puts toad on a timer, everything has to be drawn quickly enough to make sure it won't be taken over.

The mirror is a little silly because the person who can Silent Fear first will usually win. Going first and getting the turn 1 Trevenant gives a huge advantage. When going second, you can somewhat combat this by starting with Wobbuffet to hopefully block Stellar Guidance or Set Up. Relying on this is not great but will give you a chance.

Night March is a great matchup! Simply Item lock quickly and then Silent Fear to take easy Knock Outs on Joltik and Pumpkaboo. Basically, it comes down to just using Silent Fear four times. If you can do that, you will win.

Vespiquen should go similarly to Night March. Both decks rely on Battle Compressor for damage, thus shutting off their ability to use it will make things very difficult. Silent Fear can take multiple Knock Outs quickly on Eevee and Combee, which puts the Vespiquen player on a clock similar to when facing Toad Bats.

Groudon cannot beat Trevenant. Wobbuffet will not stop the Item lock and Mr. Mime can be easily knocked out by a Tree Slam. No Pokémon-EX in play makes it basically impossible for Groudon to take enough prizes before their Groudon go down.

Eels as I said earlier is interesting. The Rough Seas will provide some trouble. I would be concerned about this matchup, but things can go either way. I'm am optimistic about the matchup but unsure. Some sort of tech for Eels is probably a good idea.

Why doesn't everyone play Trevenant?

Well the main reason why Trevenant isn't more popular is because of Yveltal. Even though Trevenant can beat it by going first, the strategy is not reliable. Yveltal is really popular at the moment making Trevenant a risky choice. There aren't really any techs for Yveltal in this lists but getting lucky is enough to pick up games against Yveltal. If you feel lucky with your going first flip, then play Trevenant.

For me, Yveltal is too much of a concern. I probably will avoid playing this deck for that reason only.

For the last deck in this piece I have a deck that has had a love/hate relationship with me. This deck is very unexpected at the moment. People seem to think it has died off. For me this is far from the truth. My final deck is Vespiquen.

I had given up on this deck because of its occasional inconsistency. With a redone list, I feel more comfortable about its consistency. I used my friend Austin Attaway's list as a base for this list, however this list is very different.

Energy (7)

Just like with Eels, what is so attractive to me about this list, is the fact that it has a chance against anything. There are some very interesting techs in this list. I'm always in favor of anything that can run Champion's Festival. Here is why I picked these cards:

Tech Explanations

Champion's Festival/Jynx/Audino

Champion's Festival is a tech for Trevenant decks. Trevenant has been hyped up by many of my pro level friends, which leaves me very concerned about it. Trevenant is also a great choice for Standard, which could cause some to want to play it in Expanded. I expect to see a good amount of Trevenant day one, and even more in top cut.

For those reasons, I decided that Champion's Festival was a great way to go about countering it. Silent Fear will spread three damage counters to all of your Pokémon. With Champ Fest, you have the ability to cut that down to two damage counters. This is important because after three Silent Fears, 90 damage will Knock Out all Vespiquen. After one healing from Champion's Festival you have effectively caused them to need another attack to Knock Out any Vespiquen in play.

For this reason alone, it is worth the space. But what really makes it better is its combination with the other tech in the list, including Jynx and Audino. With Jynx and Champion's Festival healing every turn, Silent Fear becomes essentially useless. This is going to force them to use Tree Slam, which is extremely inefficient. Only sixty damage per turn, and Vespiquen is doing far more damage. This creates a great attack trade.

Audino and Jynx also find use against Seismitoad/Bats. This matchup is a little rough at times, so the extra help is nice. Champion's Festival is nice in this matchup but I don't expect it will be much more helpful than Tropical Beach would.

2 Hex Maniac

It occurred to me as I was building this deck, that Hex Maniac is extremely helpful against about half of the top tier decks at the moment. Hex is great in particular against Eels. I wanted to make sure that I had a way to stream Hex turn after turn to get ahead in the prize trade. Two Hex makes that possible.

Two Hex finds use against Trevenant as well, in getting out of the Item lock. This is going to allow you to play your Ultra Ball and Battle Compressor to up the damage and search out Jynx. It also gives you a chance to play your VS Seekers.

Yveltal/Archeops is another reason for two Hex. Archeops can be very troublesome, but a well-timed Hex can completely change that. Hex on your first turn will also make it significantly harder for the Yveltal player to get Archeops because it shuts off Set Up and Stellar Guidance. I believe the chance of prizing Hex Maniac is at least halved with the addition of a second copy as well. I often hear that Yveltal/Archeops beats Vespiquen, however in my experience this has not been true. Any game where the Yveltal player does not get a turn one Archeops will almost always result in a loss for them. Archeops is even less of a problem, because if your opponent does not know you are playing Vespiquen, and you start with Shaymin (or Jynx), they most likely will not go for Archeops, with the assumption that you are not playing Vespiquen.

Finally the two Hex are helpful against Seismitoad/Bats, because well, it stops the bats. The extra healing that this deck abuses, may give you an extra turn every so often to opt for Hex over playing a draw Supporter. I will not try to hype its use against toad bats, but it is helpful at times.

Startling Megaphone

This is simply a good way to get rid of Fighting Fury Belt. That's all there is to it.

Conclusion

I had a great time writing this piece. For the first time in a while I didn't struggle much to write any of it. What I really have done with this article is compile everything I want to test more. These lists were fun to make and have inspired me to get more serious about preparing for the next set of Regionals.

Thank you all so much for reading this! More than anything else I hear that people want to see lists, lists, and lists. I tried to fit as many as I could for you all. If you enjoyed what you read, or plan on testing any of the ideas here, then please give me a thumbs up.